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Friday, 8 April 2016

POLICE ATTACK VICTIM WILL NOT WALK

The Swazi university student who was crushed under an
armoured troop carrier when police drove at speed at protesting students was so
badly injured she will not walk again.

Ayanda Mkhabela, aged 23, was one of many students attacked by police at
the University of Swaziland Kwaluseni campus on 22 February 2016.

The Swazi Observer, a
newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last
absolute monarch, reported doctors in Port Elizabeth Hospital, South Africa,
said she will never walk again.

The police attack happened as students were protesting
about delays in registration.

The Times of Swaziland,
the only independent daily newspaper in the kingdom reported at the time, ‘a
Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) Operational Services Unit (OSSU) casspir drove at
high speed into a group of about 2,000 students, who, when they realised that
the vehicle was not stopping, ran in all directions.

The Swazi Observer, reported,
“The
official police version of events was to the effect that Mkhabela tried to
climb on the body of the casspir and fell, thus injuring herself.

‘He denied that the casspir could have been used as a weapon by the
police and when he was asked if the officers were qualified to rush a person to
the hospital instead of waiting for paramedics considering that Mkhabela had
spinal injuries, Mamba said they were trained in first aid and acted due to the
emergency of the situation.’

The Swaziland National Union of Students (NSUS), in
a statement posted on Facebook,said
newspapers had distorted the truth to make the incident look like an accident.

SNUS said, ‘Truth of the matter is approximately 1,000
protesting students at Kwaluseni UNISWA were targeted by the police casspir
which sped to disperse them and as their desire hit our very own desperate
Ayanda Mkhabela. Upon knocking her down, as expected the casspir switched off
lights and she was taken away, fortunately to hospital.’